Why are southeast Wisconsin companies lagging other regions in receiving patents?
“There are two major reasons. Our companies don’t receive as much federal funding as other companies, although we are in the process of establishing a National Science Foundation industry/university collaborative research center, which hopefully will lead to more federal funding. The second point is that water companies in this area don’t have as many cooperative agreements with university researchers, which is a natural factor in the innovation cycle.” Realizing the Water Council is in its infancy, why is this coalition critical to the region becoming a stop on the international water map? “While it started out as an ad hoc group of the Milwaukee 7 and is now a stand-alone C-3 nonprofit, it has expanded its role as a cheerleader and promotional tool highlighting the resources in the region. Through the Water Council, our cluster of 120 water companies are calling attention to the available Great Lakes research and development capacity at the UWM Great Lakes Institute. The Water Counci
